THE FIRST LIONS OF RUGBY The first British Lions & their barnstorming rugby & Aussie rules playing tour of Australia & New Zealand in 1888. A ripping yarn of rugby! “The First Lions… Continue reading →

AMERICAN FOOTBALL’S ‘BIG GAME’ MEANT RUGBY written by Sean Fagan Here’s a trivia question that might score you a few ‘biscuits’ one day…”In the decade before WW1, apart from the UK’s biggest cities… Continue reading →

THEY WORE ALL BLACK BEFORE THE ALL BLACKS written by Sean Fagan The 1888-89 “New Zealand Natives Football Team” took their final curtain bow on British soil on 27 March 1889. They were… Continue reading →

BAD LUCK DOGGED FIRST WALLABIES written by Sean Fagan “The original Wallabies that flashed off to England in 1908-9 were not the luckiest lot — but they were tip-top fighters, with great courage,”… Continue reading →

RUGBY WAS TABOOED AT RIVERVIEW written by Sean Fagan For a time ‘football’ at some of Sydney’s now most famous Rugby schools was Australian rules. At Saint Ignatius’ College its founder Father Joseph… Continue reading →

THE PROPOSITION. HOW 130 YEARS OF WARATAHS & REDS BEGAN written by Sean Fagan The Waratahs-Reds match of 2012 stands as a monument to 130 years of inter-state rugby rivalry – but if… Continue reading →

AUSSIE RUGBY 7s KICKED-OFF IN 1891 written by Sean Fagan Rugby played seven-a-side is recognised to have begun in 1883 in the Scottish town of Melrose. While in Australia interest in 7s began… Continue reading →

MOB FOOTY DOWN UNDER written by Sean Fagan Folk (or mob) football, following its various traditional forms from across Britain, was played in the Australian colonies from at least the 1830s up to… Continue reading →

OLDEST RUGBY RIVALS IN AUSTRALIA? written by Sean Fagan Which two teams still meeting today have the longest standing rivalry? The honour is generally acknowledged to remain with the ‘rivals of the Parramatta… Continue reading →

MIGHT OF WALLABIES & ALL BLACKS COMBINED written by Sean Fagan The Wallabies made their debut 18 months before the nation of Australia was born – yet the original ambition in 1899 was… Continue reading →

SCHOOLBOY RUGGER MORE THAN A GAME written by Sean Fagan The design pattern for schools around the world in the mid-late 1800s were the English Public Schools, particularly Rugby School. Under the ‘Muscular… Continue reading →

WITH A FINE DISREGARD written by Sean Fagan Many texts and articles say that Rugby football was invented in 1823 at Rugby School with schoolboy William Webb Ellis picking up the ball in… Continue reading →

NEW ZEALAND’S ‘ALL BLACKS’ JERSEY written by Sean Fagan One of the most iconic brands in world sport is the New Zealand Rugby team’s ‘All Blacks’ jersey. The black jersey with silver fern… Continue reading →

RUGBY vs THE RED BARON written by Sean Fagan The airplane pilots and men involved in ‘dog fight’ aerial combat during WW1 were (and often still are) portrayed as modern day knights, competing… Continue reading →

‘THE BLOODS’ OF SOUTH MELBOURNE RUGBY written by Sean Fagan The famous red-and-white strip of the AFL’s Sydney Swans has its origins in a club that once pursued a switch from Melbourne rules… Continue reading →

JOLLY JUMBUCKS OF THE HOME NATIONS written by Sean Fagan Perhaps Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, never really did say, “Being born in a stable does not make one a horse”, but… Continue reading →

A GENTLEMAN’S GAME PLAYED BY HOOLIGANS written by Sean Fagan No doubt, you’ve come across the witty quote – in various forms – about the football codes and whether a particular one is… Continue reading →

AUSSIE BARBARIANS AT PLAY written by Sean Fagan England’s Barbarian FC is Rugby’s most famous ‘itinerant invitation’ team. The majority of the players to have become a ‘Barbarian’ were from the four traditional Home… Continue reading →

AUSTRALIA’S FIRST RUGBY STAR written by Sean Fagan Tom Wills’ place in the founding of Australian rules history has cast into deep shadow his football deeds at Rugby School, and the veneration and… Continue reading →

ROUGH RUGBY IN WARWICK written by Sean Fagan By the middle of the 1880s support amongst footballers for the Rugby code in Queensland was gaining momentum. In late 1883 the Northern (later Queensland)… Continue reading →

DID A PAINTING KICK-OFF FRENCH RUGBY? written by Sean Fagan Did a painting that depicted the 1886 Rugby meeting between Scotland and England kick-start interest in the game in France?… Our story begins in… Continue reading →

THE AFL SHERRIN : A SON OF RUGBY written by Sean Fagan It is claimed that TW Sherrin in 1879 created the first ball designed specifically for Australian rules football, making the ball… Continue reading →

In 1888 the first (what is now recognised as) British Lions sailed ‘down under’ – given the hazards, distance and communication difficulties of the time, merely bringing the venture to fruition was an… Continue reading →

WAS WEBB ELLIS RUGBY’S TRUE TRAILBLAZER? written by Sean Fagan Unveiled by the Old Rugbeian Society in 1895, the famous bronze plaque at Rugby School pays tribute to William Webb Ellis who, in… Continue reading →

THE OLD BALMAINS WERE A FORCE written by Sean Fagan Revived in 2005, the Balmain Rugby Club was in the code’s pioneering first half century one of its most famous teams. The Referee… Continue reading →

ZEPPELINS OVER LONDON, RUGBY IS DEAD written by Sean Fagan A Rugby-playing Aussie writes home from war-time England just before Christmas 1914. Richard Granville Waddy, who played Rugby for Sydney University in the… Continue reading →

THE FIRST RUGBY PASTOR OF MELBOURNE written by Sean Fagan The rise and fall of rugby in 1890s Melbourne coincides with the arrival and departure of Rev. John Hoatson. Raised and educated in… Continue reading →

THE FIRST FOOTBALL GAME IN COLONIAL AUSTRALIA written by Sean Fagan The first documented playing of the game of football in colonial Australia was in the centre of Sydney in late July of… Continue reading →

AFL KICK-TO-KICK HAS ITS ORIGINS AT RUGBY SCHOOL written by Sean Fagan The traditional “kick-to-kick” game of Australian rules football is claimed as unique to the code. In reality it is a tradition… Continue reading →

THE RUGBY-PLAYING PADRE written by Sean Fagan British Lions 1899 tour captain Matthew Mullineux was a ‘padre,’ whose life was full of adventure, philanthropy and service to the British Empire. Small of stature… Continue reading →

MELBOURNE’S FIRST REBELS AMBUSHED NSW written by Sean Fagan The NSW Waratahs playing in Melbourne is now an annual event on the Rugby calendar, but it was a long time coming. The team’s… Continue reading →

RUGBY BOUNCED AUSSIE RULES written by Sean Fagan It’s an intriguing question: Through the last quarter of the 19th century, how did rugby in New Zealand, New South Wales and Queensland manage to… Continue reading →

WHAT GLORIOUS CREATURES WE ARE written by Sean Fagan By the early 20th century the primary tenets of sound Rugby were team work and combination. Every man had his place and his assigned… Continue reading →

WHICH ARE AUSTRALIA’S OLDEST RUGBY CLUBS? written by Sean Fagan Which are Australia’s oldest Rugby clubs that are still going today, and why are there so few from the 19th century? The Maitland… Continue reading →

THE MAROON-HEARTED WARATAH written by Sean Fagan It’s no revelation to anyone that the NSW Waratahs and Queensland Reds in Super Rugby are essentially now clubs, no longer representative teams – players can… Continue reading →